Monday, September 15, 2008

Science Fare

Just as we continue to see the ramping up of the efforts to regalize Mayor Mike, we find this small, but illuminating story from the NY Post: "The Department of Education's multimillion-dollar science project is falling further behind the curve - and leaving teachers' heads spinning.A test that was to be a key element in a $60 million science curriculum, which had been unveiled nearly two years ago to improve subpar scores, is now being postponed for the second straight year. A spokesman cited "budget issues."

Another example of the way in which the DOE operates below the radar of an uninquisitive press corp-and if Bloomberg gets his way for a third Quinn-aided term, this failure of oversight will be perpetuated for an additional four years. Money is spent, independent review is absent, and we get the continuing soap opera of term limits instead of diligent governance.

Here's the final Post info on this typical DOE fiasco: "The DOE spent $30 million last year on textbooks and training for 2,700 teachers and plans to spend another $30 million over the next two years. "We really don't know what's going on," said a third-grade teacher from the Upper West Side. "I'm preparing my kids for reading and math tests [and] worrying about teaching science and preparing them for that test but apparently for nothing."

But that's not all. In this morning's Post-and thank you NY Post for tracking all of this- we get the following about the city's T&G program: "The Department of Education is shelling out more than $1 million to defray the costs of empty seats in under-enrolled gifted and talented programs - vacant slots that parents attribute to bureaucratic bungling." Another example of inefficiency-and with greater degree of transparency and oversight what else do you think will float to the surface down at Chambers Street?